Carry Home My Wayward Soul
by wbss21
Summary: Thor hasn't seen Loki in over a year. Not since he moved out of their apartment and in with his boyfriend Thanos. And then one day, Loki shows back up, worse for ware than Thor's seen him in a long time. Thor human AU. Warnings for graphic depictions of violence, mentions of rape/non-con, hurt/comfort, NorseBros.
1. Chapter 1

**Carry Home My Wayward Soul**

**Chapter 1:**

It's freezing in the apartment when he walks in, which doesn't make any sense, Thor thinks, because he knows he left the heat on when he left for work this morning.

It's January, and 35 degrees out, and right now it doesn't feel any warmer in here.

His first thought is that the damn heater must have broken again, and that's what he gets for living in such a shitty complex. But as he closes the front door behind him and tosses his keys onto the side table, he becomes aware of a biting draft working its way through the space, like the cold air from outside is blowing in.

Immediately he tenses, senses suddenly on high alert.

This is also what he gets, he supposes, for living in such a shitty complex in such a shitty neighborhood. But his current pay won't allow for anything better, and he just had to go all independent and tell Father and Mother that he didn't need their financial support, or that position Dad offered in his firm, despite the fact Thor went to Cambridge and got his damn law degree and everything.

As he reaches for the bat he keeps hidden beneath the sofa, he thinks being a rebel really isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Though this won't be the first thief he's scared the shit out of and chased screaming from his apartment.

Thor's a big guy. He knows it. The second the little bastards get a load of him, they usually drop everything and run.

He moves as quietly as he can, though he thinks he's probably already given himself away from the way he tossed his keys and slammed the door.

Maybe they're already gone and the fucker left his back door open on their way out.

Either way, Thor's pissed, and he swears, he might actually chase them down the street this time if they're still around.

Rounding the corner into his kitchen, he raises the bat and sucks in a deep breath, getting ready to roar to the heavens.

And then he steps past the threshold, and stops dead in his tracks.

The door is open, like he thought, leading out to his barely qualifying half-balcony, overlooking the lovely back alley where everyone dumps their trash, and standing there, back turned to Thor, elbow propped in one hand, cigarette in the other, is his little brother.

For a moment, Thor finds himself stunned into silence, the bat lowering numbly to his side, and he stares for long seconds, watching Loki, standing still as a statue, moving only to pull a drag every now and then.

"Well, are you going to say hello, or are you just going to stand there gapping all night like some love-struck fool?"

Loki's voice carries across the small space, clear and cutting, and it's enough to shake Thor out of his momentary stupor.

He swallows thickly, stepping forward and stopping again.

"Loki…" he starts, and he can't quite keep the shock out of his voice.

Loki, who he hasn't seen in more than a year.

Who last he'd seen, had been moving in with his then boyfriend, Thanos.

Thor had never liked Thanos.

The guy was a straight up bastard, and in Thor's opinion, possibly psychopathic.

Loki wasn't someone to let anyone push him around or talk down to him. His brother was too damn smart, and would cut you to shreds with his tongue if you even looked at him funny.

But Thanos… Thanos had always done just that. Talked down to Loki and exerted a kind of control over him which Thor had never seen anyone able to accomplish.

He hadn't liked either the way he'd sometimes seen the guy put hands on Loki, pulling him along, or shoving him where he wanted him to go.

It had confused the hell out of Thor, that Loki would _allow_ anyone to treat him that way. Loki just wasn't the type. He wasn't some wilting flower.

He wouldn't even let Dad treat him that way, except when he was a lot younger. He'd talk right back to the old man, get in his face and everything.

But around Thanos, Loki would always just shut right down and comply wordlessly to whatever the son of a bitch told him to do.

Thor remembered getting into a heated argument with his brother over it, just before Loki had moved out, trying to make him see reason, trying to understand why he was even with Thanos.

Loki had screamed at him that he just didn't get it. Claimed he was in love with Thanos. Said that in Thanos, he'd finally found someone who could keep up with his breakneck thought process.

Thor didn't get that either. Thanos wasn't what he'd call stupid, but fuck, he wasn't half as smart as his kid brother.

No one was, really.

But that had been that. Loki had moved out, and Thor hadn't heard from him since. Not even a phone call or an email or a letter, as Loki preferred still.

Even their Mom hadn't heard from him more than a couple times, and Loki had always made it a point to stay in contact with her. He'd always treated their mother like a Queen.

But there he was now, standing out on the balcony, smoking a cigarette just like always. Like no time had passed at all.

Belatedly, Thor remembers how damn cold it is outside, and old habits kick in hard.

"Jesus Loki, it's freezing out there." He starts, leaning the bat up against the kitchen table and moving towards his brother. "Get inside here before you catch cold."

He's nearly to Loki, and he sees his brother flick the ash at the end of his cigarette away, shuffling farther out onto the deck, back still turned towards him.

"I'm fine Thor. You know the cold's never bothered me."

"Like hell Loki." Thor argues. And he remembers without want all the times he'd found Loki out in the dead of winter, frozen half to death and shivering like a leaf, having to drag him back inside and rub him down with heated blankets and hot water bottles and wrap him in his own body heat.

Loki, who's never really been very good at taking care of himself, despite all that brain power. Maybe _because _of it.

Thor's always thought of the phrase 'too smart for your own good' when it comes to his brother.

He doesn't hesitate, closing the distance and grabbing Loki round his upper arm, pulling him back inside.

He ignores the agitated protest from the younger man. He also ignores how frighteningly skinny he can feel Loki is beneath his suit jacket.

Tries to ignore the sudden swell of guilt he feels for ever letting his brother run off with that piece of shit like he did.

Loki needs looking after, and Thanos was never going to fill that role.

"Would you let go of me!?" Loki snaps, and finally Thor releases his grip, closing the door to the balcony.

He doesn't even ask permission before he's plucking the still burning cigarette from Loki's fingers and tossing it in the sink, turning the tap on to put it out.

"No smoking in here. You know the rules." He says.

Loki scoffs, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his thin chest.

"I wasn't smoking _in here_. I was out on the balcony." He informs in that haughty tone which sets Thor's teeth on edge.

"You had the door wide open and smoke and cold air was wafting in." Thor replies bluntly, to which he receives another eye roll.

"Whatever Thor. You're always so uptight." Loki says, turning away.

"And you're always so reckless." Thor shoots back, starting to feel annoyed now. "Why are you here Loki?" He asks. "How'd you even get in?"

His eyes narrow as he watches his brother start towards the kitchen table, pulling out a chair. He doesn't fail to notice the stiffness of Loki's movements as he lowers himself into the seat, sitting carefully. Gingerly. Like he's in pain.

He threads skeletally thin hands together atop the table, shrugging.

"I still have my old key." He informs. "And apparently you've yet to change the locks."

He isn't looking at Thor, and it gives the older man a chance to really _look_ at his kid brother.

Now that he does, Loki really doesn't look so great.

He's disheveled in a way that's truly unlike him. Usually immaculately pressed suit rumpled and even dirty looking, shirt collar undone and without a tie. His hair's longer than Thor's ever seen it. Down to his shoulders now and messy, where normally Loki would always wear it slicked tightly and neatly back.

The rooms dark, the lights still out. Even still, Thor can make out what looks like dark smudges across the sharp, angular features of his brother's face, and can see, even from this distance and the minimal light, Loki's hands are shaking, if only just.

An abrupt, sickening dread takes hold Thor's insides, and without thinking, he moves to switch on the lights.

The moment he does, Loki hisses and turns his face away, pressing a hand over it.

"God damn it Thor!" He says. "My eyes hurt!"

In the better lighting, Thor sees Loki's even more out of sorts than he'd realized.

His suit's not just rumpled, it's filthy looking. Like he's been rolling around on the ground and in the dirt. His hair's matted and tangled and split at the ends, like he hasn't combed or washed it in more than a few days.

And his hands, Thor finally sees, are bruised and swollen at the knuckles, the skin split and crusted with dried blood. His always perfectly trimmed, clean fingernails have dirt and whatever else caked under them.

His skin is deathly pale. More so even than usual.

"Loki, what's going on?" Thor asks, suddenly afraid, moving towards the table to take a seat across from his brother.

Loki shifts farther away from his direction, hand still covering his face.

"Nothing." He mutters. "Nothing, I just…"

"Loki," Thor cuts him short, sitting down. He reaches forward without thought and takes hold of Loki's wrist, tugging his hand away.

Predictably, Loki protests, trying to keep his hand plastered to his face. But Thor's always been a good deal strong than his little brother, and he pulls the limb down without much effort at all.

Loki hisses again, turning his face.

Thor already had a sinking suspicion of what he'd find.

It does nothing to prepare him for what he actually sees.

Loki's face is a broken mess.

What Thor had thought in the dark to be dirt or shadows of some kind, turns out instead to be deep, ugly bruising, no more than a few hours old, it looks like, all across his jaw and the left side of his face, an awful abrasion running down the entire length of his right cheekbone.

There are cuts above and below both his eyes, both of them swollen noticeably in turn. His lip is split at the bottom, dried, clotted blood crusting over the wound.

Across the bridge of his nose is an ugly gash, stretching the entire width and hideously wide.

"Jesus Christ…" Thor breaths, horrified.

"Maybe after the crucifixion." Loki replies flippantly, lips pulling up into a forced smirk.

Thor feels sick.

Terrified and enraged and heartbroken all at once.

He feels his breath quicken, his heart pounding uncomfortably hard against his ribcage, his palms growing instantly sweaty.

He swallows thickly against the wave of a million different emotions, jaw clenching tight.

"Who…" he has to pause a moment, fingers curling into fists. "Who did this to you?" He finally manages in a contradictory calm tone.

He already fucking _knows_. But he needs to hear Loki say it so he can have an excuse to go over to that piece of dog shit's house and beat the fucking son of a bitch _bastard_ to death.

"Thor…" Loki begins, raising his trembling hands up in a placating motion, tone pleading.

"No." Thor cuts him short, voice edged in warning. "No, Loki…" he shakes his head. "You _tell_ me who did this to you. ."

Loki shakes his own head, and Thor sees the thin column of his throat bob as he swallows.

"I can't Thor." He says. "I can't do that."

"Loki, so help me, if you don't tell me right no…"

"Thor, I… I can't. You'll want to go over there and…"

Thor can scarcely believe what he's hearing. Can hardly grasp the horrible _fear _he hears in his little brother's voice. Loki, who's so rarely shown fear of any kind in more years than Thor can remember.

"Are you seriously trying to _protect _that fucking piece of shit!? Loki!" Thor's voice rises in anger and disbelief.

Again, Loki shakes his head, and suddenly his eyes are too bright, a wet sheen coating them. He bites his lip and looks away, and Thor feels his own throat constrict at the sight.

Every instinct in him rockets off.

Loki is his _little _brother. He's supposed to _protect_ him, God damn it! And now he's let this happen and he can't…

Abruptly he stands from his seat, the legs of his chair scrapping loudly against the linoleum flooring.

A moment later, Loki follows him, but already Thor is heading towards the front door.

He's going to kill the bastard. He swears to _God_ he's going to…

"Thor, _please_!" Loki is suddenly there, grabbing hold of his arm and trying fruitlessly to hold him back. "Please don't do this!" He entreats desperately.

Thor yanks his arm free of his brother's hold, turning on him angrily.

He doesn't miss the way Loki flinches back from the violent movement, and for a moment it gives him pause.

"Loki, I don't understand you. That son of a bitch beat the _shit _out of you! You're my _brother_. And you expect me to just stand by and let that go?!"

Loki shakes his head, and Thor feels his heart sink as finally the tears which had been gathering thick in his eyes slip free, streaming down his bruised and battered face.

His brother looks away, his hand sliding from Thor's arm.

"It's not that Thor. It's…" again, he shakes his head, hand coming up and wiping clumsily at his eyes. "I don't want you getting near him Thor. He… he's dangerous. I didn't want to get you involved at all. I didn't want to come here because I knew how you'd react, but I… I didn't have anywhere else to go. I b-barely got away, and I thought he was going to k-kill me this time and…"

"Wait." Thor reaches out, a sick dread coiling like a lead weight in his belly. "What do you mean _this time_?"

But Loki won't look at him now, turning his face away.

"Loki, what do you _mean_ this time!?" Thor presses, not willing to let it go. "He's done this to you before."

It isn't a question this time. He already knows the answer.

The way Loki's eyes close, his expression growing tight only confirms the answer.

And suddenly he remembers how stiffly Loki moved, how rigid and careful he was sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Loki, what…" he starts, but he's cut short suddenly as his brother turns, and Thor is rendered for a moment speechless as the younger man throws his arms around him, clinging to him with desperation.

He feels Loki shudder, his face pressing hard against his shoulder, and he realizes an instant later that Loki is weeping.

It's so completely unlike his brother, who since reaching adulthood has always been so unwaveringly reserved and closed off and withdrawn, that for long seconds, Thor doesn't know how to even react, just standing there limply, awkwardly, until finally his brain kicks into gear, and he raises his own arms, wrapping them round Loki's rail thin frame and holding him tight.

"Loki," he starts.

"Please Thor." Loki interrupts him again, his voice muffled and wet against his shoulder. "Please, just… j-just stay with me tonight. Just stay with me."

And just like that, all of the rage and indignation saps out of Thor like water through a sieve.

"Alright Loki." He says softly. "It's alright. It's okay. I'll stay with you."

"Please," Loki continues to beg, thin arms wrapping tighter. "please, just… just promise me you won't go over there. Promise me you'll stay."

"I promise Loki." Thor says, pressing his lips to his brother's crown, kissing him gently. "Alright? I'm here with you now."

Loki doesn't say anything after that, only pressing his face harder against Thor's shoulder, the tremors through his frame growing stronger as he continues to cry.

And all Thor can think of is how he _let_ this happen to his brother. How Loki had been trapped with Thanos for over a _year_, and Thor isn't stupid, despite what his brother sometimes accuses him of. He knows, if the way he'd seen Thanos treat Loki was any indication before, this abuse has likely been going on since the beginning.

And he'd wondered _why_ Loki let himself be treated that way.

He maybe understood better now, and he thinks the guilt might be eating him alive.

He doesn't understand why Loki never came to him before.

For a long while, they stand there, Thor holding Loki to him, letting him cry, shushing him every now and then when he feels his brother start to grow frantic.

Until, after a time, Loki at last begins to calm somewhat, his sobs slowing to an occasional hiccup.

"Hey," Thor starts softly, leaning back, looking down at his brother. He smiles weakly at him, knowing it's a sorry attempt at reassurance. He can barely stand to look at Loki's face, not with how beaten to hell it is. "How about we get you cleaned up, huh?"

Loki seems to hesitate then, looking away, wiping at his eyes with the heel of his palm.

"I… I'm alright." He says. "I can take care of it."

"Loki, come on." Thor insists, taking hold of his hand and tugging him gently towards the bathroom. "Someone needs to clean out and bandage those cuts, and we need to get that swelling down."

He feels his brother hesitate again, fighting a moment against Thor's tugging, before finally giving in and letting himself be led.

/

The harsh lighting of the bathroom throws Loki's injuries into stark relief, and Thor finds it even more difficult a task for him to look at his brother than before.

He orders Loki to sit on the toilet, which Loki does wordlessly and without protest.

He looks pitiful, sitting there, shoulders hunched up around his ears, like he's trying to hide himself, clothes a rumpled mess, alabaster skin bruised black and blue and purple, the swelling round his eyes made worse from his crying.

He's so _small_, Thor thinks, and again, he has to swallow against the lump forming in his throat, the sting against the backs of his eyes.

Just imagining that bastard putting his hands on Loki, on his little brother, has Thor seeing red in an instant.

He wonders how anyone could be so damned cruel.

Loki may be tough as nails. May have an iron will. May be the bravest man Thor's ever known, never backing down, never holding his tongue or giving up in what he believes, even when he's been outmatched and outgunned.

His brother may be all of those things. But Loki's strength has always been in his heart and mind.

Physically, he's always been a little on the frail side. He'd been sick constantly as a kid, and that hadn't really changed as he'd grown older. He'd never really grown very strong. Never really grown out of the way those numerous illnesses impacted his constitution.

It didn't used to really matter, because he had Thor. Built like a shit brick house Thor, Loki had used to joke. Nobody would be dumb enough to start anything with his little brother when he was around.

When he wasn't, well, Loki's mouth got him into trouble more often than not. It wasn't unusual for Loki to come home from school sporting a black eye or a busted lip.

The other kids had used to pick on him a lot.

Loki had always said it didn't bother him, but Thor knew it did.

He used to sometimes hear his brother at night, crying to himself in his room.

But those were kids. Kids were assholes. They didn't know any better.

But Thanos, well… Thanos was older than his brother by a good ten years. He was a _man_. Damn near big as Thor himself, tall and strong and muscular.

Loki had looked like some little kid standing next to him, and when Thor had first met Thanos, he'd thought maybe it was a good thing. Maybe his brother had finally found someone other than his big brother to look out for him and protect him.

Christ, had he been wrong.

He just doesn't understand, how someone that much bigger and stronger could be okay with hurting someone like his brother. Someone who couldn't defend themselves. How anyone could think that's okay.

He realizes he's clenching his teeth, his hands curled to fists at his sides, and he forces himself to relax then, pushing the thoughts from his mind.

He's no good to Loki like this right now.

His brother needs someone to be calm for him, to let him knows he's safe and that it's going to be alright.

He'll deal with Thanos later.

Fumbling around in the medicine cabinet a moment, he retrieves the first aid kit, grabbing a few washcloths and soaking them under the sink in warm water before bringing it all over and kneeling down in front of Loki.

"Here," he begins, pulling out some disinfectant wipes.

Gently, he takes hold his brother's chin, turning his face down slightly so he can have a better angle to see at.

Loki sits quietly and still as Thor begins cleaning up what he can. Washing the grime and blood away, before rubbing the wipes along all of the cuts and abrasions.

Loki can't quite keep his discomfort from his features the whole time, and Thor apologizes quietly for it.

Finally, he smoothes Band-Aids smeared with Neosporin over what he can. Some of the cuts look deep enough they may require stitches, but Thor doesn't think Loki's in any mood to go to the emergency room tonight.

"Okay," he says when he's finished. "I'm gonna draw you a bath, and then get you an ice pack to hold to your swelling while you soak in there. Alright?"

Loki nods mutely.

He won't look at Thor now, and the older man can tell his brother's falling rapidly into a depression.

"Hey," Thor cups his cheek, bringing his face up to look at him.

Finally, Loki's eyes fix with his own, bloodshot and bleary, and Thor thinks how exhausted he looks.

"It's going to be okay Loki." He says again. "I promise."

Loki only nods again, vague and weak, before his eyes slip once more away.

Thor stands, leaning down and kissing the top of his brother's head before moving towards the tub, turning the faucet and letting it fill.

/

He leaves Loki to it, allowing him some privacy, telling him he's just going to go and get him some fresh towels.

Loki tells him okay, and before Thor steps out, his brother grabs hold of him again in another hug, leaning his face against his chest and telling him thank you.

Thor hugs him back, giving him another kiss on the temple and telling him it's alright, before finally leaving him be.

There's a fresh load of towels in the dryer, Thor's happy to remember, and he makes sure to gather an armful of them, knowing his brother likes that.

Coming back to the bathroom door, it's still slightly ajar, as he left it. He can hear Loki splashing around the water in there, and he knocks once before pushing the door open, sticking his head in.

"I'm just going to leave these right her…"

The words die on his tongue, turning to ash. His mouth goes instantly dry and something like horror rips through his insides at the sight before him.

Loki seems as shocked as he is, frozen and naked, stepped halfway into the bathtub and staring back at him with wide, fearful eyes.

It isn't that which has Thor equally paralyzed though.

It's his brother's body.

It's as beaten to hell as his face. Maybe more so.

There's hardly an inch of him free of the worst bruising Thor's ever seen. Deep, hideous swaths of dark, dark black and blue, all across his back and ribs. Wide, round blooms of the same grotesque discoloration littering the backs of his thighs and calves and reaching up over his shoulders. Even with his back turned to him, Thor knows it stretches to his front, over his chest and stomach, no doubt.

Underneath, Thor can see mottled yellows and reds and greens, older bruising just beginning to heal.

Alone it's enough to make the older man's stomach lurch and churn in nauseating sickness.

Only there's something worse still then the clear evidence of numerously suffered, brutal beatings.

It's the shapes of some of those bruises, and where they are.

Along Loki's upper arms, along the insides of his thighs, the back of his neck, standing out sharp and screaming, are the impressions of thick, strong fingers. Fingers which had grasped and squeezed with bruising force and power. Fingers meant to _restrain_.

And the most damning of all, what causes a momentary weakening in Thor's knees and the room to spin in awful circles, is the torn up state of Loki's backside.

He's torn to shreds back there, blood trickling slow and sluggish down the insides of his thighs, the skin irritated and agitated to blistering red and yellow.

It's all Thor needs to see to understand immediately what happened, and a flood of emotions so strong hits him in that instant, he nearly collapses to the floor.

"Loki," he chokes, pushing the door the rest of the way open and stepping in.

Immediately Loki steps from the tub and turns, backing away a few steps.

He looks like some cornered, half-starved animal caught in a trap, eyes huge and shining, his frame nothing more than skin and bones.

Thor had been able to feel how skinny he was underneath his clothes. But seeing it now, seeing the prominent just of every one of his ribs, of his hipbones, the blades of his shoulders and collarbone, the vertebrae of his spine…

Christ, Loki doesn't look like he'd have the strength to fight off a little girl, let alone a man like Thanos.

Rage and despair war within Thor's mind for dominance. He doesn't know what to feel. What to do.

"Thor, it… it isn't what you think…" Loki starts, voice shaking and thin, and it's the most blatant falsehood Thor's ever heard come from his lips. His brother holds his hands up as if to somehow placate, and Thor feels his heart twist in agony, his face crumpling to match.

"He forced himself on you?" He cries, eyes filling instantly with tears. It isn't a question. Not really.

"Thor, please…" Loki entreats, voice cracking, and he sounds like a child.

"How many times?" Thor goes on, stepping closer. "How many times did he do this to you?"

"Thor…"

But Thor has closed the distance between them now, and he grabs his brother, pulling him hard against him and holding him crushingly tight.

Loki chokes out in pain, but Thor hardly notices, pressing his face to the top of his brother's scalp.

"No, no, no, Loki…" he begs. "no."

"Thor, please, please…" Loki sobs, voice breaking suddenly and completely as he dissolves for the second time that night into tears. Two times more than Thor has seen him cry in the last fifteen years. "Don't leave me here tonight." He begs, abandoning any attempt to dissuade Thor of what he already knows. "Don't leave me. Don't go over there. He… he'll kill you and th-then… then he'll kill me. Please…"

"I won't." Thor tells him, crying now too. "I won't leave you Loki. I swear it."

"Please." Loki continues as though he hasn't heard, thin hands clinging urgently, twisting in the material of Thor's shirt. "Please."

"I won't Loki." Thor's hand lifts, cupping the back of his brother's head, pressing his face to his chest. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

And he wasn't.

He had to figure this out. Had to figure out what to do.

But he knew it wouldn't be tonight.

Not tonight.

Not when he's promised his little brother he would stay.

/

**AN: Oh, what is this, another new story! I've really got to stop. My attentions already being pulled in a million different directions. But I keep getting new ideas and the passionate desire to write them down. So here's another one, and I hope you're enjoying it! If so, let me know and I'll continue it, along with my zillion other ongoing projects, haha. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

_Thor meets Loki's new boyfriend purely by accident._

_He's coming out of the cafe, black coffee in one hand, scone in the other, still on his lunch break. He always gets out of the dingy little law office he currently finds himself employed by when he can. _

_He finds himself questioning every day his choice to "follow in his Father's footsteps", and become a lawyer. He thought once he might be passionate about it, but these days, that notion is becoming less and less a certainty._

_He's just seating himself at one of the shop's outside tables when he glances across the street and sees his brother._

_It takes him a moment to realize it's Loki, though subconsciously he knows it right away._

_No one really looks like his brother._

_Only normally this time of day, Loki is supposed to be meeting with his councilor._

_He'd only started seeing Dr. Banner a couple months ago, and only under the combined pressure of Thor's, as well as Mom and Dad's insistence._

_In truth, Thor thinks, Loki should have started seeing a therapist years ago, with all of his problems. From the drugs to his extreme mood swings and self-destructive behavior._

_Loki's getting arrested had been the final straw, as far as their Father was concerned._

_It had been such a stupid thing too. Vandalizing abandoned property while drunk off his ass._

_What eighteen year old didn't do stuff like that? _

_Loki's mistake had been getting caught._

_Thor had tried reasoning with Father about it. He was eight years older than Loki, and tried reminding Dad about how when he was Loki's age, he'd gotten into a lot worse trouble than throwing rocks through the window of a condemned house._

_But Odin wasn't hearing any of it, and in retrospect, Thor realized he was right._

_Loki had needed help. He'd been spiraling for a long time. Really since he was maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. Hanging out with the wrong crowd, smoking and drinking and taking all sorts of drugs._

_His relationship with Father had deteriorated to the point that just being in the same house as one another was proving a dangerous endeavor. Tensions had been running sky high, fights breaking out between them constantly. Violent shouting matches which often ended with broken furniture and Loki running to his room and locking himself in for days at a time._

_The breaking point had come when, one day, Loki had snuck into Father's study, looking for money, and he'd stumbled across a locked box, hidden beneath a stack of folders in one of Dad's desk drawers. Thinking there would doubtless be cash inside, Loki had easily picked the lock._

_There hadn't been any money inside._

_Instead, he'd found adoption papers, dated 17 years earlier, his name plastered across the documents, followed by the name "Laufeyson". _

_Loki had absolutely lost it, Thor remembers. He'd been over that day, just visiting, talking with Mom and Dad in the living room, when Loki had suddenly appeared, eyes thick with tears, streaming down his face, contorted in rage and despair._

_Immediately he'd begun screaming at Odin and Frigga, demanding answers while clutching the adoption papers in his hand._

_Mom had tried talking him down, tried calming him, but nothing was working, and Father had always had far less patience with Loki then his wife._

_He'd started screaming back, voice booming and overpowering Loki's own, started calling him an ungrateful little shit and telling him had it not been for his own generosity, Loki wouldn't have lived to see his first birthday. Wouldn't be alive now to hate him the way he did._

_And that had done it._

_Loki had stormed out of the house._

_Mom had been beside herself, begging Thor to go after him, which of course Thor had._

_His brother hadn't gotten far, Thor remembers. Just to the end of the street, where he'd collapsed to his knees, sobbing viciously._

_Thor had done his best to comfort him, putting his arms around him and holding him close, telling him how sorry he was, telling him he had no idea. And that was all true. _

_Loki had wept against his chest and gone on about how it was all so obvious now why Dad hated him. Why he'd never really loved him, and how stupid he was for not realizing sooner._

_Thor had told him that wasn't true. That while Father could sometimes be harsh, of course he loved Loki. That he just didn't always know how to say it. _

_To this day though, Thor doesn't think Loki believed him, and still doesn't._

_His brother had begged to come live with him that night. Said he couldn't stand another minute in that house, and Thor had told him of course._

_That had been six months ago, and Loki had been with him ever since._

_His brother still had a host of issues, but that was what Dr. Banner was for, and Thor liked to think the sessions were helping Loki, even if the signs of progress were slow._

_Loki didn't seem to lose his temper quite so easily these days, but still, when he did, it was like a bomb going off._

_Thor wasn't sure Loki would ever be able to scale back on that particular aspect of his personality._

_In some ways, Thor didn't want him to._

_Dr. Banner had told him and their parents that Loki was suffering from a severe anxiety disorder, as well as clinical depression and possibly bipolar disorder, and that he wanted to prescribe him some medications to help modulate his mood fluctuations. _

_Loki had been on the meds for a few weeks, and it had so dulled him down, that frankly it had scared the hell out of Thor. He'd barely recognized his brother, with the way he would sit there, staring vacantly ahead, eyes glazed and distant. His usually sharp wit and tongue almost entirely absent. _

_When Loki had told him he didn't like the way the drugs made him feel and wanted to go off them, Thor, knowing it was a risk, had told him alright._

_Loki was sometimes erratic. He had a hell of a temper and yeah, he did get depressed sometimes. _

_But Loki's mind was also his greatest asset, and to take that away from him just felt wrong._

_It left Loki in a state far too vulnerable for Thor's own comfort._

_Watching his brother now, seemingly waiting for nothing as he leans back against the brick of a one storey building, Thor suddenly sees a man emerge from the places entrance, and he feels his own eyes widen as the man approaches Loki and without warning pick him bodily up off the ground, twirling him in a quick circle. _

_Loki laughs, head thrown back and hands on the man's shoulders._

_Whoever the guy is, he's huge._

_Loki's tall, but this guy must have three inches on him, at least, and even from this distance, Thor can see he's incredibly broad in the chest and shoulders. _

_He's wearing a tank top, his arms bulging with rippling, thick muscle. He's got to be 250, 260, Thor thinks. And that's natural. That's not built up muscle too big for the guy's frame._

_Loki looks like a stick figure in his hold. All one hundred forty pounds of him._

_Finally, the man sets his brother back on his feet, and Loki has his hands on the guy's chest, staring up at him with a look of such affection and longing, Thor for a moment doesn't even know how to characterize it._

_And then the guy's leaning down, hands on Loki's face, pushing his head back and planting a violent looking kiss on his brother's lips._

_Thor stands up then, forgetting his coffee and scone as he starts across the street._

_There's something uncomfortable uncurling in his belly at the look of the man._

_Not just his what would be for most intimidating size, but the overall impression._

_His hair's cropped short and close to the scalp, and as Thor draws nearer, he can see the guy's got strange tattoos in swirling, indecipherable patterns running up his arms, over his shoulders and over the nape of his neck. _

_He looks fucking dangerous, and there's a sudden, almost panicked desire in Thor to get his little brother away from the man._

_It's only made worse when he sees the guy shove Loki harder than is necessary against the brick of the building and continue to assault him with his kiss._

_Loki doesn't seem to mind, but Loki's never really known what's good for him._

_He doesn't even notice Thor standing there until he speaks up._

"_Loki." He says._

_The man instantly breaks away, turning and glaring at Thor with clear warning. Though Thor sees a brief hesitation when the man gets a load of him and realizes he's essentially the same size. Same height, same width. Thor gets the immediate impression the guy isn't used to encountering anyone of comparable physical stature. _

"_Thor!" Loki immediately beams seeing his older brother, smile spreading across his face as he pushes off from the wall and takes a step forward._

_The man suddenly puts a wide palm against Loki's chest and shoves him back against the brick, eyes still pinned menacingly on Thor._

_Loki grunts in surprise at the impact, and Thor feels his hands curl to fists at his sides, taking a step forward._

"_Who the fuck are you?" The man growls, voice deep and plainly antagonizing._

_Loki grabs hold of the guy's wrist and pushes his arm away from his chest, huffing in apparent frustration._

"_Thanos, stop being so jealous. He's my _brother_." He says, unconcerned, once more stepping away from the wall and towards Thor._

_Thor continues to glare right back at the guy, Thanos, apparently, even as Loki barrels into him, throwing his arms around him in a hug._

_Thanos watches the display with a frown of clear disapproval, but Loki seems oblivious, squeezing Thor tight before leaning back and grinning brightly up at him, eyes alight and happy._

"_What are you doing here?" He asks, voice pitched with excitement._

_Thor can't remember the last time he saw his brother in such a good mood, and it makes some of the tension drain from his own frame, his discomfort easing slightly._

_Finally he pulls his eyes away from Thanos and looks down at his little brother._

"_I was about to ask you the same thing." He says, forcing himself to return Loki's smile. "Aren't you supposed to be with Dr. Banner right now?"_

_Loki shakes his head, at last dropping his arms from around Thor's waist and stepping back._

"_Dr. Banner had to cancel today." He explains. "But this is great! I've been wanting you to meet my new boyfriend for a while! Thor, this is Thanos. Thanos, Thor!"_

_He turns to the guy, looking up at him, and then back to Thor, smile broadening even further._

_Between them both, Loki looks even smaller and more fragile than usual, and Thor has the sudden, overwhelming urge to push his brother behind him._

_But Thanos' face is relaxing now, and what can only be described as a charming grin spreads over his face._

_He holds out a hand towards Thor._

"_Hey." He says, friendly as can be. "Sorry about that. I thought you were one of Loki's ex's come to harass him or some such. You wouldn't believe how often that happens."_

_Thor reaches out and takes the offered hand. He doesn't fail to notice how hard the man's grip is, but Thor squeezes just as tightly back._

"_I can imagine." He replies flatly. _

_He still doesn't like the feeling he gets off this guy, but he seems nice enough now, and his attitude before is understandable, if he was just trying to protect Loki._

_Thanos' smile widens._

"_Yeah. Loki's quite the catch, as I'm sure you know. Good looking as he is, these crazy men just come out of the woodwork it seems, trying to screw with him."_

_Loki laughs at that, giving Thanos' shoulder a shove._

_It doesn't even budge the guy._

"_Flattery wins you no favor." Loki says, even as his cheeks tinge a slight pink._

_His brother is smitten, Thor realizes. _Really _smitten. _

"_So, boyfriend, huh?" He starts, trying to shove the unease he feels away. "When did you two meet then? This is the first I've heard of you." He looks pointedly at Thanos._

"_Just about two weeks ag…" Loki starts, but abruptly, Thanos cuts him off._

"_Two weeks ago." He says, talking right over his brother._

_Thor waits for the scathing tongue lashing._

_One of Loki's pet peeves, if ever he had one, is being talked over, and Thor's never known anyone to get away with it without receiving a verbal thrashing._

_He's subsequently stunned into a momentary stupor when, instead, Loki's eyes slip away to the pavement below, and he falls entirely silent._

_The unease grows._

_Thanos is still smiling as he put's a beefy arm around Loki's narrow shoulders and draws him tight against his side._

"_Saw this little beauty down at Connelly's bar, and couldn't resist asking him out." He goes on, tone still effusive and friendly. "Got lucky I guess, because he said yes, even after getting a load of my ugly mug."_

"_You aren't!" Loki starts, looking up at Thanos with that same, adoring expression. "You're the most handsome man I've ever seen!"_

_His brother is talking like some little kid, Thor thinks, and there's something unsettling about it._

_Thanos laughs and bends down, slapping a wet sounding kiss against Loki's cheek._

_Loki actually _giggles_, and Thor thinks he might be sick._

"_Hey babe, we better get going or we're gonna be late to the show." He says._

"_Oh, yeah." Loki says. "S-sorry Thor. We have tickets to the cinema." He looks up at him with apologetic eyes, and, Thor thinks, almost disappointment. _

_Thor knows his brother well enough to know he doesn't want to go. Knows him well enough too to know, normally, he would call the movies off if that was the case._

_But he says nothing as Thanos forces him to turn in the opposite direction, and begins pressing him forward to walk._

"_Nice meeting you Thor." The man calls over his shoulder, arm still slung over Loki's shoulders._

_Loki glances back at Thor one last time, saying nothing, the same, disappointed look in his eyes, before at last turning away._

_A moment later, his brother and his new boyfriend disappear round a corner, leaving Thor feeling intensely uncomfortable._

Thor sits, hands clasped beneath his chin, elbows leaned onto his knees as he watches his brother, asleep on his couch.

It had taken a long time for him to calm down enough _to_ fall asleep, Thor sitting with him the whole time, holding onto his hand and telling him over and over in different variations that he was going to be okay, that he wasn't going to leave him.

Thor can't recall ever having seen his little brother so shaken.

And that wasn't some small measure, given how frequently as a child Loki had used to come running into his room at night, sobbing over some horrible nightmare he'd suffered. Or how over the years of their youth, Loki had been so constantly picked on and harassed at school by other children both older and younger than him. Before Loki had learned to shut down and pretend himself unaffected by the bullying, he'd used to come home crying and shaking and just so damn terrified, until finally Mom and Dad had pulled him out of public schooling and put him into private.

Even there though, he'd gotten picked on.

Thor shakes his head of the memories, reaching forward and brushing Loki's black hair back from his forehead, smoothing it back over his ear. His brother doesn't stir, out cold finally, both form physical and emotional exhaustion.

Thor had tried getting him to take the bed, but Loki had repeatedly refused, until finally Thor had just agreed for him to sleep on the couch.

He wasn't going to stick to that agreement though. With Loki's injuries, he would only suffer worse in the morning, if he didn't have a proper mattress to lie down on.

With that thought in mind, Thor stands, leaning down and gently as he's able, pushing his arms beneath Loki's still form, scooping him up a moment later. He bites his lip and swallows thickly against a tightening chest as he feels how terrifyingly light his brother is. He weighs nothing, and it scares the hell out of Thor. It makes him wonder morbidly just what else Thanos had been subjecting his brother to.

Loki had always been too skinny. But now his thinness was veering towards the dangerous.

His brother curls inward slightly then, hands rising and fingers twisting into the fabric of Thor's shirt, face burying against his chest.

Thor bends his head down, kissing Loki just behind the ear, before moving carefully with him towards his bedroom.

They get there without incident, and Thor continues in his tact as he lays Loki down, letting his head rest along the pillow, positioning his arms and legs appropriately before pulling the covers up to his shoulder.

He gives his brother one last kiss, along the temple, making sure he's okay, before switching the bedside lamp off and backing quietly out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

From there, he heads back to the living room, finding his phone lying across his coffee table.

Taking it up, he doesn't hesitate in bringing up his contact, finding Mom's number and hitting dial.

He prays she's still awake, and when he hears her pick up only after the second ring, and her clear voice on the other end, he breathes a sigh of relief.

"Hello darling." She says brightly.

Thor feels his stomach churn, knowing how in moment he's going to destroy her good mood.

"Hey Mom." He says. "I didn't wake you?"

"No, no darling." She assures him with a quiet laugh. "Your Father and I aren't quite that old. We were just settling in for the night, getting ready to watch a film."

"Oh," Thor says. "That's good."

And then he pauses, unsure of how to proceed.

The hesitation is enough to let his Mom know something's up, and when she next speaks, it's with evident concern.

"Thor, is something the matter?" She asks apprehensively.

Thor swallows, blinking rapidly against the sudden sting in his eyes.

"Mom, it's Loki."

He hears her sharp intake of breath.

"Why?" She starts, voice noticeably trembling. "Is he…"

"He's fine." Thor hastens to reassure, and he hears Frigga exhale in painful relief. "Well…" Thor bites his lip, again hesitating. "not fine. But I have him here with me. He… he's asleep right now in my bed. Mom, he…"

"Thor, what is it?" She demands urgently. "Tell me what's going on."

"He's pretty badly beat up Mom." He finally spits out, and he can hear the tremor in his own voice. "That guy he's been with, he's… he's been abusing him Mom."

"Oh God, I knew it. I… I knew…" she trails off, tearful and horrified.

"Can you come over Mom?" Thor forges ahead. "I think… I think it would be good for him if you were here right now. I'd take him over there, but everything with Dad and…"

"I'm coming." She cuts him off. "I'll be there in half an hour."

"What about Dad?" Thor asks nervously.

With all the issues hanging between Loki and Odin, the fact of Loki's being gay is just another point of contention. Odin hadn't taken the news well at all, even as Thor and Mom both had taken it in stride. Even when Loki had come out to them when he was only fourteen, and they'd all known for several years now.

Hearing about this, about Loki being abused by another man, it isn't going to go down well with Dad at all, Thor knows.

"I'll take care of it." Mom assures him. "Don't worry. Just… just keep your brother safe Thor. Keep him safe."

"I will Mom. I swear it."

They say their goodbyes then, Thor hanging up and sinking down onto the couch.

It's just a matter of waiting now.

He prays she gets here soon.

And he hopes Loki won't be too angry when he finds out he's called her.

He doesn't think his brother will be, once he sees Mom.

/

**AN: Huge thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed and followed! I hope you're continuing to enjoy, and again, reviews help me immensely, so if you have a chance, please leave one! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning this chapter guys for graphic depictions of violence and rape/noncon**

**Chapter 3:**

_It's been two months since he's moved out of Thor's apartment and in with Thanos, and Loki is beginning to feel restless._

_Beginning to wonder if he hasn't made a mistake._

_It isn't any one thing in particular, really. Just…lately, it feels like there's a kind of tension between him and Thanos which wasn't there in the beginning. _

_And Thanos hasn't been talking to him as much as he used to either. Has been snapping at him, yelling even and stepping towards him almost threateningly. Though he hasn't at all hit him._

_Loki worries maybe his boyfriend is losing interest in him. That he's growing bored with him even._

_He's tried his damndest though, he really has. He's been more accommodating in this relationship than he has in any other, short as that list is._

_If he's being honest with himself, Loki's only really had one other, semi-serious relationship outside of Thanos._

_And maybe that's the problem. Maybe he's screwing it up just from simple lack of experience._

_Maybe he just needs to try harder._

_Thanos is… he's just so smart, and so good looking, and Loki knows well he's lucky to have him. Knows that Thanos could have literally any guy, or girl for that matter, if he so chose._

_The issue's got to be coming from his end, Loki's sure._

_These thoughts running through his head, he comes walking out of their shared bedroom, and hears the television on, playing another of those mind numbing rugby games Thanos is so fond of._

_He struggles and fails not to roll his eyes as he moves down the hallway, shoving his frustration away as he makes his way into the living room, where he sees his boyfriend parked in front of the TV, staring intently at the screen._

"Calm, Loki_." He thinks to himself. "_Stay calm_."_

_If he's going to convince Thanos that they should go out tonight and actually _do_ something together, he's going to have to use his charm._

_Getting angry never works. Thanos just stares at him with this awful, blank expression when he does, saying nothing. _

_There's something terrifying in that, Loki thinks dismally. Just how almost… _dead _Thanos' eyes get. Like he isn't even there._

_Breathing in deeply, his shakes his hands out, unsure of why he feels so suddenly nervous, forcing himself to move forward._

"_Hey handsome man." He starts as he comes round where Thanos sits._

_He ignores the niggling apprehension tugging at his belly, dismissing it as ridiculous._

_And to prove such to himself, he pushes through it, draping himself suddenly, invasively across Thanos' lap, hooking his arms around the larger man's neck, pulling himself up to plant a sloppy kiss against his lips._

_When finally he pulls back, he's got a giant grin plastered across his face, intending to seduce his boyfriend and make him laugh._

_And so his heart sinks, and he's abruptly, unpleasantly bemused when he finds Thanos' eyes still fixated on the television screen, features utterly unchanged from their previously, passive shape._

_He doesn't even move to take hold of Loki in his arms, didn't even try to kiss back, didn't even crack a smile._

_Loki frowns, the familiar flare of his temper threatening low in his gut. _

_Fuck, what's it take?!_

"_Thanos," he begins, struggling to keep his voice calm and cheery. "darling, I was thinking we could go out tonight?"_

"_I'm watching the game." Finally Thanos responds, though it isn't at all what Loki wants to hear, his gaze still fixed forward._

_Loki's teeth clench, again forcing himself to swallow his knee jerk reaction of frustration and disgust. _

_Instead, he puts on a pout, batting his lashes and burying his face against his boyfriend's broad chest._

"_Oh come ooooon." He whines petulantly, kicking his feet where they hang over the chair's arm. "Darling, we haven't been out in over a week, and I'm starting to get bored. We could do anything. Anything you like. Go to a movie, go out to dinner at some really fancy restaurant, go dancing…"_

_At last, Thanos peels his eyes from the game, glaring down at Loki with calculating regard._

_Loki grins back at him, and again, he chooses to ignore the uneasy feeling uncurling at the back of his mind. His heart beats uncomfortably against his ribcage, and he finds himself swallowing thickly at the look upon his boyfriend's face._

_It melts away in an instant when blessedly, Thanos smiles back at him, massive hand coming up and ruffling Loki's hair._

_Loki fucking hates it when he does that. When Thanos treats him like some little kid. But he's willing to let it go for now, if he can just get something actually _fun_ going here._

"_How about we meet up with my boys?" Thanos asks, though his tone tells Loki it isn't really a question. "They've got some new product. Really fine grade stuff. Though you might want to test it out for me baby."_

_And just like that, Loki's relief dies an instant death._

_Thanos' _boys_, as he likes to call them. Otherwise known as the Chitauri gang. And what kind of fucking stupid name is that?_

_Nothing but a bunch of world class douche bag hooligans. _

_Every time Loki has to spend any time around them at all, afterwards he feels s somehow sickeningly unclean. Like an hour long shower would do nothing to put a dent in the filth they've managed to rub off on him._

_And he hasn't said anything to Thanos, because he knows it would probably upset him, but whenever Thanos isn't looking, whenever he's stepped out of the room or turned his back, the son's of bitches actually have the nerve to put their hands on him. Grabbing his ass, grabbing his crotch through his pants, leaning in and sucking at his neck._

_And then there's the things they say to him, pressing their filthy lips against the shell of his ear and calling him faggot and cunt and whore._

_It's sexual harassment, and under any other circumstances, Loki would tell them to go fuck themselves._

_Only they're Thanos' friends, and there's something keeping Loki from doing it. Some awful feeling he gets every time he feels himself ready to snap back and give the bastards a taste of their own medicine. _

_Just something that tells him it's a bad idea…_

_And then there's the drugs._

_Loki's been trying to stay off the stuff._

_Ever since he got arrested for that ridiculous stunt he'd pulled, and started seeing Dr. Banner. Ever since moving in with Thor, really._

_He's been clean, and he's wanted to keep it that way. _

_He doesn't like what the drugs do to him. The way they make him even more paranoid and anxious and constantly jacked up, needing the next fix. Doesn't like how vulnerable they made him, truthfully. _

_And he can admit that now, looking back on it._

_He'd had more than one sexual encounter while high as a fucking kite which he'd deeply regretted the next morning, feeling almost… well, not just almost, feeling truly violated and taken advantage of._

_He'd gone through hell kicking the habit, once he could acknowledge that the things he was doing while high, well, they weren't so much things he was doing, but things being done to him._

_And yet here Thanos was, trying his hardest, it seemed, to get Loki hooked right back on, despite Loki telling him repeatedly and often that he wanted no part in it. Thanos could do all the dope and coke he wanted. Loki wasn't telling him he couldn't. But that he kept, purposefully, disrespecting Loki's own choices…_

_He can't repress his mounting anger suddenly, the emotion surging like a fire to the front of his mind, and suddenly he snaps._

"_I don't want to see those assholes Thanos." He says cuttingly, brow furrowed in clear distain. "Your friends are nothing but a bunch of crude, disgusting brutes."_

_Loki braces for what he's sure is going to be a furious reaction, feeling himself tense._

_Thanos has been raising his voice to him lately, and Loki would be lying if he said it didn't scare him half to death. He's got a voice easily as big as Thor's, or Odin's. One that seems to shake the room every time he lets it loose._

_Only Thor never turned that voice on him. Thor was his champion. His best friend and brother. Loki only ever saw him as almost a big teddy bear. One that would protect him always. And Odin was his father. Angry as he would become sometimes, as much as he would yell, Loki knew Odin would never actually hurt him._

_He didn't feel any such reassurance when Thanos would scream at him. None at all._

_He isn't prepared then when his boyfriend simply smirks at him, dismissive and mocking._

"_Oh, my poor, pampered little doll." He taunts, patting Loki's cheek. "You've got some big talk, don't you? But when it comes to hanging with the big boys, you fold like a fuckin' accordion, don't you?"_

_That was it! _

_In an instant, Loki's anger rages into an uncontrollable fury, his fact twisting with it._

"_You know what," he starts, unhooking his arms from Thanos' neck. "_fuck you_!" He spits, leveraging himself up off of the larger man's lap and getting to his feet. "You and those scum bags deserve each other. If that's who you want to spend your time with, then far be it from me to try and stop you."_

_He begins to walk away, fully intending to lock himself in the bedroom for the rest of the night, and Thanos can sleep on the fucking couch for all he cares._

_He doesn't make it more than two steps before he feels a vice like grip close over his wrist, painfully, crushingly hard._

_A half-strangled cry slips past Loki's lips. And then suddenly he's being jerked backwards with enough force that he feels his feet slip out from under him, and then he's falling, crashing down onto his back._

_The back of his head collides mercilessly with the hardwood floor, and momentarily he's rendered stunned, the world spinning fast around him._

_His vision hasn't even begun to clear before he sees a large mass shift over him, and all at once, there is an incredible weight pressing down against his own frame, an awful pressure against his chest._

_Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows this is bad. That he has to get out from under whatever this is. And he feels his hands groping at the floor, trying to find purchase, to find someway to pick himself back up._

_He's allowed the attempt only a moment, as in the next, he once more feels the brutal clamp of thick hands round his wrists, and suddenly his arms are being stretched out above his head and pinned mercilessly down._

_Pain ratchets cruelly from his wrists, down into his forearms, and he feels the abrupt, consuming fear that his bones will snap, the pressure too much._

_He hears a weak whine, and realizes only a second after that it's him._

"_You privileged little _shit_!" Thanos hisses above him, lifting Loki's hands and slamming them back, hard, against the ground. The impact rattles down into Loki's shoulders, the strain worse upon his joints._

_Another, humiliating whimper slips from his throat, and he tries desperately then, with every ounce of strength he has, to pull free of Thanos' hold._

_But the attempt is useless. He can't begin to lift his wrists from the floor even a fraction of an inch, and he only feels Thanos' grip tighten threateningly with the effort._

_The pressure on his chest, Loki realizes then, is Thanos' knee, digging hard into his sternum and stealing the breath from his lungs as the larger man puts more weight onto it._

_Fear is like a lance through his insides, drowning him as he realizes how truly trapped he is._

_It's made only worse as he feels Thanos' other knee move up, nudging between his thighs and forcing his legs farther apart, pressing into his groin and shifting in some crude attempt at stimulation._

_Tears build instantly and rapid in Loki's eyes, and all he can do is turn his face away, clamping his lids shut._

_This can't be happening…_

_This can't be…_

"_You think you can call me names!?" Thanos roars in his face, breath hot and unyielding against Loki's skin. "Think you can tell me what to do!?"_

_Again he picks Loki's arms up and slams them back down, and another, pitiful whimper breaks past his teeth._

"_I've had just about enough of your haughty, holier than though attitude, you fucking faggot twink! You think you're better than me, just cause you come from some rich, upper class background!?"_

_Loki shakes his head desperately, unable to keep the tears from slipping past his still clamped lids, sliding into his hair._

_He doesn't think that. He's never thought that. Oh God…_

_Abruptly he feels the pressure on his left wrist release, but he's given barely an instant to realize it before pain explodes through his lower jaw, radiating like hot knives through the rest of his face and into the back of his skull._

_His visions whites out behind his lids, and there's a sudden, loud ringing in his ears and the taste of metal in his mouth._

_And then it happens again, across the other half of his face._

_Loki panics._

"_STOP!" He cries. "S-STOP!" _

_His voice is wet and weak to his own ears._

_It does nothing to spare him._

_Again and again, Thanos hits him, until nausea and pain mix together unrelentingly, the blood pouring down Loki's throat threatening to make bile rise back up it._

_He tries lifting his one free hand in defense, but Thanos only swats it away like it's nothing and continues his assault. _

_Until any strength, any fight Loki might have had in him dies away to nothing, and all he can do is try and turn away from the blows, useless as it is._

_By the time it stops, the ringing in his ears is a constant buzz, and his eyes are swollen nearly shut, blood pouring warm and sticky down his brow, into his vision, the taste of it sick and hot against his tongue and the backs of his teeth. _

_The pain is unending, both a sharp and dull ache, spreading through the muscles of his face, reaching its claws back into his skull, his head already pounding in a vicious migraine headache._

_Over the ringing, he can hear himself, sobbing and whimpering pathetically, and he hates himself so much in that moment, he thinks he might die from it._

"_If you EVER talk that way to me again…" Thanos starts, voice a hideous growl. And Loki feels his hand close over his throat, squeezing tight enough to threaten his air. "I'll fucking kill you. You hear me, you little cunt?!"_

_Loki nods frantically, tears still streaming from his closing eyes._

"_ANSWER ME!" Thanos roars._

"_Y-yes… yes!" Loki cries, terrified._

"_Hmm. Now, look at me and tell me you're sorry." He breathes against Loki's face, smirk evident in his voice._

_And it takes every ounce of his will for Loki to open his eyes and turn them up to the man above him, staring back at him dazed and terrorized. _

_He doesn't recognize this man. He doesn't know who he is._

"_I-I-I'm ss-sorry. I'm sss-s-sorry." He stammers._

_Thanos grins._

"_Good." He says, and Loki feels the knee between his legs press firmer into his groin, Thanos' hands moving suddenly down to the waistband of his pants, beginning to undo the button and zipper._

_And somehow Loki's horror grows a hundredfold in a matter of seconds, as it dawns on him what's about to happen._

"_N-no…" he whines, begging. "No…"_

"_Now, now, little love, let's not be that way." Thanos says, and he's jerking Loki's pants down violently then, lifting him up off the floor and pulling them past his butt, past his hips, taking his underwear as he goes. "After the shit you just put me through, I think it's only reasonable you make it up to me this way."_

_Loki's shaking his head in desperate denial. Can hear himself begging over and over for Thanos to stop, to not do this. Feels himself pushing weakly against the massive shoulders above him._

_It's pointless._

_There is no stopping this. There's nothing he can do._

_He isn't strong enough. _

_He isn't strong enough to do anything…_

Thor practically launches himself from his seat as he hears the light knock on the front door, rushing forward and undoing the latch without even bothering to check through the peep hole, throwing the door wide.

His Mother is standing there, and a wave of such powerful relief washes through him, he can feel his entire body deflate with it, stepping forward and throwing him arms about her tiny frame, pulling her to him in a fierce hug.

She hugs him back just as determinedly, pressing her face to his shoulder.

For long minutes they stand there, just clinging to each other, sharing equally in relief and despair, until finally Thor feels his Mother pulling back, her arms loosening, and he takes that as his cue to follow.

As he does, she takes hold of his hands, her own dwarfed in his, staring up at him with a naked urgency.

"Where is he?" She asks. "Is he safe?"

Thor nods, feeling his chest constrict at the worry in her voice.

She's always worried so much about Loki.

He remembers when they were younger, Loki especially, and Mother had always used to take Thor aside and give him quiet and firm instructions to keep his brother safe. To look out for him and not let him wander off. To take care of him.

Even when Loki had grown up enough to, most would say, take care of himself, Mother had known Loki was fragile. That even then, he would need help. Maybe would always need help. And she'd relied on Thor to provide that when she herself couldn't.

"He's still sleeping in my room." He tells her. "I cleaned up his cuts and stuff as best I could, helped him take a bath and got him into some fresh pajamas. He was pretty exhausted… after everything…"

He hesitates, voice trailing off.

He doesn't know how much he should tell her. How much Loki would be okay with him telling her.

Loki's always been so proud. He knows it would devastate his brother, for Mom to hear that he'd been… been violated the way he had been.

It was going to be bad enough for him, Mom knowing he'd been physically abused and beaten up.

That didn't change the fact that Mom _should_ know, or that she was likely to find out eventually anyway.

Only, Thor thinks, he should probably wait for Loki to reveal it to her himself. He should allow his brother what pride he has left, little though it may be.

Frigga nods, clasping his hands more tightly.

"We should let him rest then." She says. "May I come in?"

"Oh! O-of course!" Thor stammers, feeling suddenly like an ass, keeping his Mother waiting out in the hallway like that. "Come in."

He steps aside and allows her through, closing and locking the door behind her.

"I'll just make some coffee." He says, staring towards the kitchen.

She follows him there, her movements elegant and precise as ever as she seats herself in exactly the same spot Loki had earlier occupied.

Adopted or not, Loki has always resembled their Mother in the most uncanny of ways, Thor thinks, as he scoops the already ground coffee into the filter, moving to the sink after and filling the pot with water.

His Mother waits until he has the machine brewing and has sat himself down in the seat opposite her own before she begins speaking.

"Tell me what happened." She says, softly demanding, her eyes focused intently on him.

Thor sighs, hands folded atop the table, staring down at them.

It takes him a moment to gather himself, and Mother, as ever, is the epitome of patience, allowing him that time.

Finally, he finds himself able to speak, lifting his eyes to her.

"He was here already when I got home from the office tonight." He begins, slowly. "He still has his key, apparently." He shakes his head, dreading to think of what might have happened had Loki failed to keep it, or if Thor had indeed gotten the locks changed for whatever reason in the last year. Where would Loki have gone? What would he have done? Surely not go back to Thanos, but…

He pulls his mind from the thoughts, forcing himself back on track.

"I found him in the kitchen here, smoking out there on the balcony. It was dark, he hadn't turned any lights on, and I didn't think anything of it. I didn't even realize anything was wrong until I flipped the switch on and saw his face."

Here, Thor finds himself having to swallow, feeling the mix of rage and fear he'd earlier experienced leap again to his throat.

"He tried to hide it from me, tried to hide his face. Mom, he was so scared. I don't… I don't think I've ever seen him that scared in my life. I got pissed, wanted to go over to that bastard's place and beat the hell out of him, but Loki was just so afraid. He begged me to stay, started crying and telling me… telling me he'd barely gotten away. Mom, it…"

Thor shakes his head again, feeling the sting of tears at the backs of his eyes, flashes of Loki's naked body erupting through his mind. The horrible, beaten state of him, and…

"This has been going on for a while, I think." He continues, voice thin. "Something Loki said, about barely getting away _this time_. I think that bastard's been hurting him since the start and Loki just… he didn't know how to get away."

For long moments, Frigga sits, still and silent, saying nothing.

Her eyes are cast down, fixed on the table, hands folded the same as Thor's across the surface.

He can make out the very slight tremble through them, and he knows she's struggling to keep herself composed.

"Oh," she finally starts. "oh, I should have never let him run off like that. I should have fought harder to keep him away from that man."

"Mom, it isn't your fault." Thor tries to reassure her, reaching out and laying a hand over her own. "You know how Loki is, when he sets his mind to something. There's no convincing him otherwise."

"I know," Frigga says, her voice tearful. "I know, but I… I should have tried harder. I knew that man was trouble from the moment I laid eyes on him. I knew he was dangerous. And then Loki stopped calling me, stopped calling you, and I _knew_ something awful had happened. I just… I was afraid by pushing him, he would do the exact opposite. And he did it anyway."

Thor's eyes slide away from her, mouth pulling into a deep frown.

That was true. Loki had a tendency to go against the grain just for the sake of it alone. He was the real rebel in the family. Neither of them had really known how much to push when Loki had first introduced Thanos to them, and when a few months later, he'd announced his intention to live with him. They'd all been opposed to it. All known it was a disaster waiting to happen. And they'd told Loki as much. But they'd been afraid to tell him what he could and couldn't do, knowing he would only take it as a kind of insult almost, be affronted by it and think of it as them trying to control him.

Father hadn't had any such misgivings, telling Loki bluntly and plainly what he thought, and maybe that had been the final straw. The thing that had really pushed Loki into taking the plunge.

"What did Dad say?" Thor asks, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Mother shakes her head, wiping discreetly at her eyes.

"He wanted to come over here, of course. He'll never admit it to you aloud, but he's been just as worried about Loki. I told him it wasn't a good idea. Not right now. But I suspect we won't be able to keep him away forever. He was extremely upset when he heard."

Thor nods.

Of course they wouldn't be able to keep Dad out of it. And Odin had as much a right to know what was going on as Mom did. But for now, she was right. Father being here would only upset Loki more.

Dad seeing Loki like this, it would destroy what little pride Loki had left, Thor was certain.

His brother had always wanted more than anything to make the old man proud.

He hears the coffee machine's brewing peter out, and stands, moving towards it, retrieving two mugs from the cabinets along the way.

"Do you want to move to the living room?" He asks as he pours the coffee into the cups, glancing at his Mother. "It'll probably be more comfortable there."

Frigga gives a shallow nod, pushing herself to her feet.

"Alright." She agrees.

They move together, silently then, over towards the ratty old couch, Thor still struggling in his mind, wanting desperately to tell Mom just how bad Loki's situation's really been, terrified in the same instant to say anything at all.

/

**AN: As always, massive thank you's to all my readers and reviewers! Your support means everything to me and helps me to continue on writing! Please let me know your thoughts if you get a chance!**


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